02 V70, No crank with intermittent starting issue.

[VincentVegaV70]

Hello everyone,

Purchased a silver 2002 V70, with 178,000kms, non-turbo, last week, got it for $1800 CAD. it's in great shape, inside and out, no rust, paint good, the interior is mint, couple dings, and scratches here and there, but overall the car is superb. I always wanted a Swedish box, and this was my opportunity to get one on the cheap and have some fun as the second vehicle, dog hauler, etc.

I changed the battery, air filter, and interior filter the same day I got it, and scheduled an oil change and inspection for this friday.

The car (when it starts) it starts beautifully and without hesitation, the engine bay is clean and dry. BUT, yesterday, after I parked it outside the house, I came back to it a few hours later to go pick up some things, and alas, nothing.

The lights turned on, but no clicking, no turning over, nothing, total silence.

I knew it wasn't the battery, but I tried jumping it anyways, to no sucess. Then I thought it was the starter, I tapped on the selonoid to try and 'shock' it, nothing. Took our second car, and went to do my bnusiness.

Came back a few hours later, got in the car, put the key in the || position, moved the shifter from P to 3 through N and back up to P, booom the car started right up. Drove it all day today, and at the end of the day, when I was picking up my kid from daycare, same thing, it wouldn't start. I had to row through the gears, P to 3, back up to P, again a few times before it would start.

I am trying to decribe the best I can what happened, and how I got it going again, but I am stunned. Could it be the PNP swithc, or is it something else.

I have no codes on the dash, except, the service due and alarm service required light, which I know it the siren module, most likely.

Any ideas are super welcome.

Thank you.

Here he is! We named him Vincent Vega

[VincentVegaV70]

bumpity bump. Any ideas? Anyone ...

[Blacklab467]

Thats a beautiful car for $1800 bucks. I can't really help you though. There's plenty of members here that will probably be able to help you once they see your post. Probably wouldn't hurt to be on the Swedespeed forum as well. Best of luck with it.

[jonesg]

bumpity bump. Any ideas? Anyone ...

the only time mine did that was when I accidently hit the immobilizer set button on the key fob.

If it ain't that, and you consistently get it to start by cycling the shifter, I think you solved it yourself.
Before digging into the engine bay I'd read the codes to verify.
You could try one of the code readers that uses your smartphone, supposedly quite good and only $25 or less.

[abscate]

The circuit to the starter for cranking is simple

Battery, wires, ignition switch, wires, starter relay. Pnp switch automatic, starter solenoid.

First check, battery is full voltage and connections clean and tight

The systematic approach is to use a vom on the small wire at the starter to see if you get 12 volts there, if YES, starter is bad

If NO, work backwards finding where the voltage is lost and replace said components.

The statistically likely things are ignition switch and PnP

[VincentVegaV70]

took the pnp out, cleaned it, oiled it, sanded the points, put everything back together, nothing. no go. I then took out the starter wire, the one under the red cable, it was badly corroded, cleaned it, pinched it a little, reinstalled, and the car started like thor's thunder! Jesus Christ, something so simple, yet so troublesome.

Now I have a clean pnp switch. lol.

[jonesg]

took the pnp out, cleaned it, oiled it, sanded the points, put everything back together, nothing. no go. I then took out the starter wire, the one under the red cable, it was badly corroded, cleaned it, pinched it a little, reinstalled, and the car started like thor's thunder! Jesus Christ, something so simple, yet so troublesome.

Now I have a clean pnp switch. lol.

Yeh but that starter signal wire can be tough to reach.

[VincentVegaV70]

Here's a video I found that explains how this is done, for future people looking at this issue.